Thank you for watching! Have a question that you'd like Anne-Marie to ask in a future video? Leave it in a comment below! If you have any questions, feel free to contact our customer service team at info@brambleberry.com or 877-627-7883 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday. You can also live chat with customer service on BrambleBerry.com from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday. For more tutorials, tips and tricks and business advice, visit our blog www.soapqueen.com/. For soapmaking supplies, visit our website www.brambleberry.com/
Hi, thanks for all your videos and answering questions! My question is what (if anything) do you recommend as a preservative in your soap and what shelf life does that preservative give the soap?
Yes, please make more like this on a monthly basis. 99% of us miss seeing you do videos. There are to far and in between. Maybe drop 3 videos a week, and question and answer session monthly. I would rather watch you here than on the hallmark channel.
I just started making soap this year and your videos have been so informative and inspirational. I'm a stay home mom with 2 toddlers and soapmaking has helped me so much mentally and emotionally. Coming across your videos have truly made my life better.
Love your videos Anne Marie. I'm a new soaper of just several months. I use your book all the time and am constantly watching you on CZcams. Thanks for all you do to help newbies like me. I know my friends and family will be very happy with the gifts I've made for them this year. I couldn't have done it with out your help.
Thank you Anne-Marie for sharing your knowledge and secrets for successful soapmaking! I learned to make cold process in 2008-2009 by watching your videos exclusively way back when they were on Vimeo. I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you! You are our soaping angel 😇
OMG i'm new to soap making and I didn't know you had your own book AnnMarie! I just went and bought it cant wait for it to get here. More and more i find you are one of the best sources of solid information on the wild world of soap! Thanks for all your work!
Thank you Anne-Marie. This was insightful. I've been sticking with just melt and pour. I may just break out the stick blender and try the cold processed soap.
I really enjoyed this. I would love more videos like this. I’m not gonna lie, I started out thinking “wow, this is like a sales pitch for the book” and by the end...I added the book to my amazon cart. I can’t wait to get it!
Thanks Anne-Marie, your sharing of information is so so invaluable to those of us new to soap making and inspirational to people mulling over the idea of trying it out. I think you are such a joy to listen to and my goodness I think so many would feel kind of lost without your input.
I’m reading your book now! It is so thorough and easy to understand for beginners. Thank you so so much for writing it, I can’t wait to make my first batch ❤️❤️
Thank you so much Anne-Marie, all the information in this video was very helpful. It answered many of my questions. I look forward to more of your videos.
Thank you so much for all your sage advice. I have and LOVE your Pure Soapmaking Book as a wonderful reference tool! Also, Bramble Berry's lye calculator... invaluable!
Thank you so much taking time out of your busy day to answer questions! I'm not a new soapmaker but I think the info you shared was valuable to soapmakers at any stage! Would love to see more of these Q & A's! For future ones to come (hopefully!), I have a question... Luxury oils & butters: When it comes to CP soapmaking, are they worth it? I feel like unless one can specifically control which oil or butter is going to be their superfat, it's impossible to know which oil (or fat) those lye molecules will bond to (ie: What the "lye monster" is going to eat up!). With the more expensive, luxury oils, do they truly make a difference in one's recipes? Oftentimes I see these more "luxurious" oils & butters used in lower percentages (possibly due to their cost), and wonder if there's any considerable benefits? I've been curious to try some of these more "exotic" oils in my own recipes, but wonder if it's really worth it to do so? I'd love to hear your wisdom on the subject! Thank you for your time, and thank you again for this insightful Q&A!
I dunno why I hadn't seen this video before now. Watched many of them. Never seen this one. I'm listening to the question about tracing too quick and I just thought I'd give my suggestion. Just throw in a few drops of glycerin. Don't know why but that slows down everything! Annnnnd unfortunaty curing but it does the trick. I did it on accident one time and immediately noticed the difference. When it comes to soda ash - she is definitely right about stick blending. Too much loose water will cause ash. Ive tried the warm blanket thing that just made it worse. Steam never worked for me. Ive tried that. The only way to get that stuff off, for me, is to shave it and a considerable amount sometimes needs to be taken off. I have a suggestion for a topic. I have solved the problem though but it was only through trial and error (may have been because I changed my water amount?) but the concern is for black people. Even though the soap may be good??? soap can leave white lines in the pigment of the skin or ashiness after soap use. White people can get ashiness too but it is not nearly as apparent. Ashiness was one of the difficulties I went through and had to learn how to solve. That is a very good question to answer. Additionally, speaking of water discount... Do you know what happens to concrete when it gets too hot after pouring? It will crack and probably crack much sooner then the surrounding concrete that didn't get poured hot. Too little water for its intended purpose will crack the concrete. Concrete needs something to bind too. Its the same thing for soap! If there is a 0% SF or even a 1% SF, the soap will get really hot for a short period of time at about 190 deg (just like concrete). Sure it will seem fine. Maybe even wash with it (possible ashiness) but if that soap is around for a year (Takes all soaps to completely cure) it will crack! Just like concrete. I've found that 3% works well and if I need to work with color I adjust my oils a little bit or just work a little faster.
Thank you for the very useful tutorial. Please tell me what do I do when a soap I made is taking ages to harden. I had used olive oil and castor oil only. Please answer
In creating my soap recipe, I am using your calculator, I’m getting a sufficient suffusing ratio, but I’m finding all of my recipes are in a really low cleansing range. I want my recipe to be primarily tallow (47%) herbal infused sunflower oil (37%) and some castor oil (16%). With a 2% or less super fat. What oils should I be adding to make it more cleansing? Or what ratios should I change?
Those few percentages of superfat is also for safety, not just for skin nourishing. And that is important. No soap calculator are 100% accurate, because no oils have 100% the same saponification number. For example, two different kinds of olive oil can have different saponification number, so the soap calculator is just an estimate, not the exact number of the oils you are using. Your coconut oil might need less lye than the soap calculator tells. And then you have a problem if your lye is at full strength and you use 0% superfat. So, to make sure your soap doesn't become too caustic, you need around 2% of superfat for safety reasons (unless you know for sure that your lye have lost strength by exposure to moisture). To remove soap scum you need a chelator, for example sodium citrate, which easily can be made by mixing a certain ratio of baking soda and citric acid in your water, and let it fully react before you add lye. Then you have sodium citrate in your soap, and it will remove or lower the amount of soap scum. And you can't do luxurious superfats unless you make hot process soap and add your superfat after everything is saponified. But even then, it is controversial. To do luxurious superfats when making cold process soap, yes, that is possible, but ONLY if you make your whole soap with only those luxurious superfats, and not other oils. My soaps (I make soap quite rare), they have always traced in an instant, thick trace, and then I have no time to do designs at all, if any. I do crank my stickblender up to the maximum setting (and I have a very powerful stickblender), stickblend non-stop until I see trace. Well, thank you for guiding me to be gentle on the stickblender. Next time, I will use the slowest speed instead of the highest speed, and take some breaks in between. Hopefully, I can have some time to stir in colors and pour it in the mold instad of scooping it in the mold. And last, I have a very, very good tip. I read about it on, and decided to try it. I have tried it in two batches of soap, and both with phenomenal results! The trick is to substitute some of your sodium hydroxide with potassium hydroxide. You have to do some maths (or use a soap calculator that lets you do dual lye), because they can't be just substituted directly (I don't remember the maths right now). A small percentage of postassium hydroxide, 4-5%, will do wonders for your lather without softening the soap too much! It will start foaming immediately, a rich and abundant lather. After I discovered dual lye, I will never go back to use only sodium hydroxide. I do use coconut and a little castor oil as well, just to boost it even more. Dual lye is a big difference, and a much better bar of soap, in my opinion.
Anne thank you very much for sharing lots of your very precious knowledge .I learn a lot. My question is if I make a soap good to treat fungus skin acne like that,that seem itchy in skin. If I boil medicinal herbs.,let it cool and use to dissolve lye will I get a result to make a good soap ?thank you .
Can I use regular sea salt instead of sodium lactate? What about stearic acid does it have same features as sodium lactate? Someone told me that he has sodium lactate as powder and it’s used as food preservative! Can I dissolve in distilled water is it the same
Hi, I was wondering how to stop additives from separating in liquid soap? I used sodium coco Sulfate noodle & cocamidopropyl betaine as my surfactant. My additives are Kaolin Clay, Allantoin & Colloidal oats. I mixed it with Vegetable Glycerin & honey but it still separated.
Hello! I was wondering if putting all of thees Wonderfull ingredients like aloe, clays, vitamins, minerals, humectants actually stay on the skin after rinsing off the soap? For me it's counter intuitive - why put nourishing ingredient in soap? Wouldn't they wash away without staying on the skin? I mean...soap gets dirt, mud and oils - how is that different from the nureshing ingredients we add? Wouldn't the chemical reaction be the same when using the soap? Thanks for your Wonderfull videos! Super informative and fun!!
I like Brambleberry lye calculator but I can't find where it allows me to choose my water discount ratio. Could you direct me to that , and if it's not there, can you adjust your calculator to include it. When I formulate some of my recipes, I need that option. Thank you.
Calculating a water discount is definitely a necessity! I am always adjusting the water discount to fit my soaping needs. There's an article about it on the Soap Queen blog: www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/water-discounting-cold-process-soap-how-why/ Also, Kenna from Modern Soapmaking has a great breakdown of how to calculate it along with a cheat sheet to quickly calculate what you need: www.modernsoapmaking.com/lye-solution-in-soapmaking/ I agree, it would be a nice addition to the Brambleberry fragrance calculator. :)
Thank you, I always enjoy the videos. You mentioned bees wax. What does Bees wax do for soap? And what can I use for my soap to have a glossy look? Thanks
Hi Ann Marie . I made my first batch of Lavender cold process soap yesterday. Didnt cut it yet but I checked on it and it looks perfect. Can I add oats to it next time ? .And do I just add to the same recipe or do I need to calculate?And thank you so much .
Hi..I have read in some ingredients of lush soaps and scrubs the ingredient "propylene glycol "can we add it at the end of soaping..or adding glycerin is better?? If OK how much can we add
I would like to know if anyone has experienced health issues from using essential oils when mass producing soap? For 2 craft shows that I did this year, I made approx 180 bars for each show. When I was at the shows after exposure to all these bars I get very fatigue, feel off in the head and upper chest feels irritated Also when they are curing in my house the smell is intense. I do open windows so I am venting. Wondering Anne Marie if you have any tips for working safely with large amounts of essential oils. Or perhaps I am just one of the sensitive ones. Thank you all your informative and helpful videos!
It definitely sounds like you are more sensitive to essential oils, I would recommend running a heavy duty fan around the window when you have it in your drying room and keeping the door closed as long as you can. The soap doesn't really need to be moved or anything within the first few days, after which the intense smells should fade away a bit.
Madam Marie, i have a question that i see after four week Soap bar discharge Oil like Sweat , it's not properly dry, It is India climate are Humidity so high. Regards Pankaj Chakravarty.
Hi, I watched some of your vids/read some of brambleberry articles/recipes about using fruit purees. Had a bad soaping result so I thought of trying out fruit extracts for a change. I couldnt find any recipe online as a guide though. How should I treat the fruit extract? Like oil? Hope you can point me in the right direction
What do you say about adding fresh fruit juice to melt and pour soap? I'm very confused because some people say it's not gonna work but some people still do that and said it works. I've read an article about this and the author said adding fresh liquid like milk or juice to a melt and pour is the same with adding fresh egg to a baked cake so that means it's impossible. What's the worst thing gonna happen if I do that? Like adding coconut milk or cucumber juice to my melt and pour soap base? Thank you so much!
Since melt and pour is already saponified it is very similar to adding eggs to a baked cake. They won't mix in well and they won't turn into soap. What ends up happening is the fresh ingredients start to spoil and grow mold and bacteria. We don't recommend it at this time. www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/purees-fresh-ingredients-melt-pour-soap/
Can you talk about recommend percentages for certain oils like if I want to add a few different oils how would I know what percentage of each I should use
We have a great article on this already! You can find it on our blog at this link here: www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/
Thank you for watching! Have a question that you'd like Anne-Marie to ask in a future video? Leave it in a comment below!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact our customer service team at info@brambleberry.com or 877-627-7883 between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday. You can also live chat with customer service on BrambleBerry.com from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. PST, Monday-Friday.
For more tutorials, tips and tricks and business advice, visit our blog www.soapqueen.com/.
For soapmaking supplies, visit our website www.brambleberry.com/
Hi, thanks for all your videos and answering questions! My question is what (if anything) do you recommend as a preservative in your soap and what shelf life does that preservative give the soap?
Hello,please is it safe to add cocobetaine to a cp soap recipe. And if yes, when should it be added?
Y'all...
She LITERALLY gave us instructions on how and where to ask questions.
Hint: not in the comments.
😆😆😆
Yes, please make more like this on a monthly basis. 99% of us miss seeing you do videos. There are to far and in between. Maybe drop 3 videos a week, and question and answer session monthly. I would rather watch you here than on the hallmark channel.
🙌👏👏👏👏
Agreed!
I just started making soap this year and your videos have been so informative and inspirational. I'm a stay home mom with 2 toddlers and soapmaking has helped me so much mentally and emotionally. Coming across your videos have truly made my life better.
Saaaaame!
Dodsfalle Keep pushing Mama!❤️
Im really proud of you! :)
Love your videos Anne Marie. I'm a new soaper of just several months. I use your book all the time and am constantly watching you on CZcams. Thanks for all you do to help newbies like me. I know my friends and family will be very happy with the gifts I've made for them this year. I couldn't have done it with out your help.
Thank you Anne-Marie for sharing your knowledge and secrets for successful soapmaking! I learned to make cold process in 2008-2009 by watching your videos exclusively way back when they were on Vimeo. I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you! You are our soaping angel 😇
I have been a customer for YEARS...I love BB! Thank you Anne-Marie, you're amazing!
OMG i'm new to soap making and I didn't know you had your own book AnnMarie! I just went and bought it cant wait for it to get here. More and more i find you are one of the best sources of solid information on the wild world of soap! Thanks for all your work!
Thank you Anne-Marie. This was insightful. I've been sticking with just melt and pour. I may just break out the stick blender and try the cold processed soap.
I really enjoyed this. I would love more videos like this.
I’m not gonna lie, I started out thinking “wow, this is like a sales pitch for the book” and by the end...I added the book to my amazon cart. I can’t wait to get it!
Thanks Anne-Marie, your sharing of information is so so invaluable to those of us new to soap making and inspirational to people mulling over the idea of trying it out. I think you are such a joy to listen to and my goodness I think so many would feel kind of lost without your input.
i don't make soap nor have plans too but her videos are so satisfying and i actually love her personality, she's so knowledgeable abt soap
So glad to see another new video from you, Anne Marie! I hope all is well and I hope you have a wonderful thanksgiving tomorrow!
OH YES this is such a GREAT idea, Brambleberry!!
Thank you Anne-Marie, very helpful info. Keep videoing please.
Thank you Anne-Marie, brilliant as always. I am using the BB lye calculator and the fragrance calculator and i love it !
Love these videos! Please continue this series!! I know all of us upcoming soap makers need all the information they can get 🤳🏻
Thanks for doing this! Can you talk next about doing a lye master batch?
I would love that too
Very helpful. Please do more videos and thank you
I so appreciate you taking time to answer question. Thank you even more for the lye and fragrance calculator it's a lifesaver!!
Anne-Marie is so chill and cool.
anne marie you are a gift. thank you for this and all that you have shared! 💗
I’m reading your book now! It is so thorough and easy to understand for beginners. Thank you so so much for writing it, I can’t wait to make my first batch ❤️❤️
Very helpful... Would love to hear more
Thank you so much Anne-Marie, all the information in this video was very helpful. It answered many of my questions. I look forward to more of your videos.
Thank you for another great video full of information!
Thanks for all your great advice.
Thank you so much for all your sage advice. I have and LOVE your Pure Soapmaking Book as a wonderful reference tool! Also, Bramble Berry's lye calculator... invaluable!
So much excellent information packed into a fun video! Thank you! I hope there are more like this to come. :)
Thanks for that video, you're really answering many questions on my mind, thanks for your inspiration ♥️🌸
Thank you so much taking time out of your busy day to answer questions! I'm not a new soapmaker but I think the info you shared was valuable to soapmakers at any stage! Would love to see more of these Q & A's! For future ones to come (hopefully!), I have a question...
Luxury oils & butters: When it comes to CP soapmaking, are they worth it? I feel like unless one can specifically control which oil or butter is going to be their superfat, it's impossible to know which oil (or fat) those lye molecules will bond to (ie: What the "lye monster" is going to eat up!). With the more expensive, luxury oils, do they truly make a difference in one's recipes? Oftentimes I see these more "luxurious" oils & butters used in lower percentages (possibly due to their cost), and wonder if there's any considerable benefits? I've been curious to try some of these more "exotic" oils in my own recipes, but wonder if it's really worth it to do so? I'd love to hear your wisdom on the subject!
Thank you for your time, and thank you again for this insightful Q&A!
Wow! Thanks very instructive 😊
great video i have learned so much from you and bought 2 of your books!!
YES! Please make more!!! So helpful!
Love brambleberry their fragrances are just amazing!
Thank you for the question and answer on the facial soap. I’m definitely going to up the superfat!
Thanks for your instructions very helpful.
Extremely helpful!!! Thanks so much!!!!
You are amazing !! I can not Thank you enough for your amazing videos and recipes. !!!!
Thanks a lot for your tutorial.Kindly make a video on how to make soap with sodium lactate.Thanks.
I have your book and loved this video. More please. Thank you.
Hi,, I bought you book, I can't wait to try the recipes in the book. Thank you !!
Thank you for all your help!
I love this! Keep them coming!
Definitely would like to see more videos like this💕
I got excited when she answered my question! :)
I'm just about to start soap making and you have helped me alot I'm going out to get your book to see if it'll help me thank you so much
Thank you guys , this helps me out so much 😀
Very informative... Thx.
Loved this! More please!
GREAT VIDEO. THANKS FOR THE LEARNING TIPS
thank you, very helpful
My soap google:) Miss these videos, definitely want more of them
Excellent video, thank you. I learned a lot.
This was really helpful! Thanks so much!
So informative. Thank you.
I once used a teaspoon of table salt and it hardened, lactate is just liquid salt.
I cannot thank you enough
Love this! Thank you!
Wonderful video and thank you
Great information Ann-Marie
I notice that sodium lactate does in fact create a hard bar. However, does the bar get soggy once in use (like the case of salt brine soaps)?
I dunno why I hadn't seen this video before now. Watched many of them. Never seen this one.
I'm listening to the question about tracing too quick and I just thought I'd give my suggestion.
Just throw in a few drops of glycerin. Don't know why but that slows down everything! Annnnnd unfortunaty curing but it does the trick.
I did it on accident one time and immediately noticed the difference.
When it comes to soda ash - she is definitely right about stick blending. Too much loose water will cause ash. Ive tried the warm blanket thing that just made it worse. Steam never worked for me. Ive tried that. The only way to get that stuff off, for me, is to shave it and a considerable amount sometimes needs to be taken off.
I have a suggestion for a topic. I have solved the problem though but it was only through trial and error (may have been because I changed my water amount?) but the concern is for black people.
Even though the soap may be good??? soap can leave white lines in the pigment of the skin or ashiness after soap use. White people can get ashiness too but it is not nearly as apparent.
Ashiness was one of the difficulties I went through and had to learn how to solve. That is a very good question to answer.
Additionally, speaking of water discount...
Do you know what happens to concrete when it gets too hot after pouring? It will crack and probably crack much sooner then the surrounding concrete that didn't get poured hot.
Too little water for its intended purpose will crack the concrete. Concrete needs something to bind too.
Its the same thing for soap! If there is a 0% SF or even a 1% SF, the soap will get really hot for a short period of time at about 190 deg (just like concrete). Sure it will seem fine. Maybe even wash with it (possible ashiness) but if that soap is around for a year (Takes all soaps to completely cure) it will crack! Just like concrete.
I've found that 3% works well and if I need to work with color I adjust my oils a little bit or just work a little faster.
Thank You so much! This is a Great tutorial! :-)
Thank you for the very useful tutorial. Please tell me what do I do when a soap I made is taking ages to harden. I had used olive oil and castor oil only. Please answer
In creating my soap recipe, I am using your calculator, I’m getting a sufficient suffusing ratio, but I’m finding all of my recipes are in a really low cleansing range. I want my recipe to be primarily tallow (47%) herbal infused sunflower oil (37%) and some castor oil (16%). With a 2% or less super fat. What oils should I be adding to make it more cleansing? Or what ratios should I change?
If sodium lactate helps to prevent soda ash ... and it is a salt, does that mean that brine soaps should not have soda ash?
Great video!!!! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I must be lucky I never have a problem with fast trace, well unless it is Tar soap
Those few percentages of superfat is also for safety, not just for skin nourishing. And that is important. No soap calculator are 100% accurate, because no oils have 100% the same saponification number. For example, two different kinds of olive oil can have different saponification number, so the soap calculator is just an estimate, not the exact number of the oils you are using. Your coconut oil might need less lye than the soap calculator tells. And then you have a problem if your lye is at full strength and you use 0% superfat. So, to make sure your soap doesn't become too caustic, you need around 2% of superfat for safety reasons (unless you know for sure that your lye have lost strength by exposure to moisture).
To remove soap scum you need a chelator, for example sodium citrate, which easily can be made by mixing a certain ratio of baking soda and citric acid in your water, and let it fully react before you add lye. Then you have sodium citrate in your soap, and it will remove or lower the amount of soap scum.
And you can't do luxurious superfats unless you make hot process soap and add your superfat after everything is saponified. But even then, it is controversial. To do luxurious superfats when making cold process soap, yes, that is possible, but ONLY if you make your whole soap with only those luxurious superfats, and not other oils.
My soaps (I make soap quite rare), they have always traced in an instant, thick trace, and then I have no time to do designs at all, if any. I do crank my stickblender up to the maximum setting (and I have a very powerful stickblender), stickblend non-stop until I see trace. Well, thank you for guiding me to be gentle on the stickblender. Next time, I will use the slowest speed instead of the highest speed, and take some breaks in between. Hopefully, I can have some time to stir in colors and pour it in the mold instad of scooping it in the mold.
And last, I have a very, very good tip. I read about it on, and decided to try it. I have tried it in two batches of soap, and both with phenomenal results! The trick is to substitute some of your sodium hydroxide with potassium hydroxide. You have to do some maths (or use a soap calculator that lets you do dual lye), because they can't be just substituted directly (I don't remember the maths right now). A small percentage of postassium hydroxide, 4-5%, will do wonders for your lather without softening the soap too much! It will start foaming immediately, a rich and abundant lather. After I discovered dual lye, I will never go back to use only sodium hydroxide. I do use coconut and a little castor oil as well, just to boost it even more. Dual lye is a big difference, and a much better bar of soap, in my opinion.
Thanks this is very helpful
Ann-Marie will you ever make the baby oneise in a silicone mold. Love your videos. Thanks
Anne thank you very much for sharing lots of your very precious knowledge .I learn a lot.
My question is if I make a soap good to treat fungus skin acne like that,that seem itchy in skin.
If I boil medicinal herbs.,let it cool and use to dissolve lye will I get a result to make a good soap ?thank you .
which fragrance oil is best if you want to slow down trace, and which dyes work best for this or which should you avoid , thanks
Can I use regular sea salt instead of sodium lactate? What about stearic acid does it have same features as sodium lactate? Someone told me that he has sodium lactate as powder and it’s used as food preservative! Can I dissolve in distilled water is it the same
Hi Ann-Marie, great work and lovely soap recipes too. Please can sulphonic acid(which is a foaming agent) be added to any of the soap recipes?
Hi, I was wondering how to stop additives from separating in liquid soap? I used sodium coco Sulfate noodle & cocamidopropyl betaine as my surfactant. My additives are Kaolin Clay, Allantoin & Colloidal oats. I mixed it with Vegetable Glycerin & honey but it still separated.
Hello! I was wondering if putting all of thees Wonderfull ingredients like aloe, clays, vitamins, minerals, humectants actually stay on the skin after rinsing off the soap? For me it's counter intuitive - why put nourishing ingredient in soap? Wouldn't they wash away without staying on the skin? I mean...soap gets dirt, mud and oils - how is that different from the nureshing ingredients we add? Wouldn't the chemical reaction be the same when using the soap? Thanks for your Wonderfull videos! Super informative and fun!!
I like Brambleberry lye calculator but I can't find where it allows me to choose my water discount ratio. Could you direct me to that , and if it's not there, can you adjust your calculator to include it. When I formulate some of my recipes, I need that option. Thank you.
Calculating a water discount is definitely a necessity! I am always adjusting the water discount to fit my soaping needs. There's an article about it on the Soap Queen blog:
www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/water-discounting-cold-process-soap-how-why/
Also, Kenna from Modern Soapmaking has a great breakdown of how to calculate it along with a cheat sheet to quickly calculate what you need:
www.modernsoapmaking.com/lye-solution-in-soapmaking/
I agree, it would be a nice addition to the Brambleberry fragrance calculator. :)
Soap Authority ~
Thank you for that helpful information!
Agreed! That would be helpful!
Rhonda M ~ Agreed!
I would like to find a recipe, with,
Lye, pinetar, lard, herbal olive oil.
All the recipes, I have found have alot more than I want.
How to added sodium Lacted in Cold process soap making? Any percentage you suggest Madam
Thank you, I always enjoy the videos. You mentioned bees wax. What does Bees wax do for soap? And what can I use for my soap to have a glossy look? Thanks
Hi Ann Marie
. I made my first batch of Lavender cold process soap yesterday. Didnt cut it yet but I checked on it and it looks perfect.
Can I add oats to it next time ? .And do I just add to the same recipe or do I need to calculate?And thank you so much .
What should I use as an emulsifier in my homemade laundry detergent?
Hi..I have read in some ingredients of lush soaps and scrubs the ingredient "propylene glycol "can we add it at the end of soaping..or adding glycerin is better??
If OK how much can we add
What is the best palm oils to use in soaps?
A lot of people that I know is allergic to coconut oil, what is a good substitute?
i need a recipe formula for the 12 in tall and skinny mold please.
I would like to know if anyone has experienced health issues from using essential oils when mass producing soap? For 2 craft shows that I did this year, I made approx 180 bars for each show. When I was at the shows after exposure to all these bars I get very fatigue, feel off in the head and upper chest feels irritated Also when they are curing in my house the smell is intense. I do open windows so I am venting. Wondering Anne Marie if you have any tips for working safely with large amounts of essential oils. Or perhaps I am just one of the sensitive ones. Thank you all your informative and helpful videos!
It definitely sounds like you are more sensitive to essential oils, I would recommend running a heavy duty fan around the window when you have it in your drying room and keeping the door closed as long as you can. The soap doesn't really need to be moved or anything within the first few days, after which the intense smells should fade away a bit.
For Dry skin which will be the perfect recipe Madam ? Can you advised Me please!
Madam Marie, i have a question that i see after four week Soap bar discharge Oil like Sweat , it's not properly dry, It is India climate are Humidity so high. Regards
Pankaj Chakravarty.
love your video's
Are you going to make any videos and recipes for us hot process soap makers?
Hi Anne Marie, do you have a book about how to create shampoo soap bars and conditioner shampoo bars and 2 in 1
Not yet! Though that would be a great idea!
Waoo.. very interesting
Hi,
After the usage of cold process soap, the soap turns into a paste like consistency. How can I avoid this?
Hi, I watched some of your vids/read some of brambleberry articles/recipes about using fruit purees. Had a bad soaping result so I thought of trying out fruit extracts for a change. I couldnt find any recipe online as a guide though. How should I treat the fruit extract? Like oil? Hope you can point me in the right direction
I was just wondering if you had a notion to create (on IOS or Android) a Lye Calculator for soap makers. Thanks!
Our Lye Calculator works great on mobile browsers: www.brambleberry.com/calculator?calcType=lye
What do you say about adding fresh fruit juice to melt and pour soap? I'm very confused because some people say it's not gonna work but some people still do that and said it works. I've read an article about this and the author said adding fresh liquid like milk or juice to a melt and pour is the same with adding fresh egg to a baked cake so that means it's impossible. What's the worst thing gonna happen if I do that? Like adding coconut milk or cucumber juice to my melt and pour soap base? Thank you so much!
Since melt and pour is already saponified it is very similar to adding eggs to a baked cake. They won't mix in well and they won't turn into soap. What ends up happening is the fresh ingredients start to spoil and grow mold and bacteria. We don't recommend it at this time. www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/purees-fresh-ingredients-melt-pour-soap/
Can you talk about recommend percentages for certain oils like if I want to add a few different oils how would I know what percentage of each I should use
We have a great article on this already! You can find it on our blog at this link here: www.soapqueen.com/bath-and-body-tutorials/tips-and-tricks/free-beginners-guide-to-soapmaking-common-soapmaking-oils/
Hi! How do I find your anti-aging soap recipe?